The Phan Wars
by KTKeen96
Summary: Phil Lester was a growing icon in the eyes of the youth, and when he joins with Dan Howell, the youth explodes. But as the world verges on the edge of war, and all of a sudden Phil is being threatened not to start it, he and Dan must decide if freedom really is worth fighting for. (Follows something of the Catching Fire plot, so I don't own that or Dan and Phil.)


This is so AU I'm not even laughing. I have been fascinated by the Catching Fire plot for awhile now, and have sort of mixed that in with my new obession of Youtubers. I've completely messed with their personalities and their lives so.. I am expecting to get a lot of flames for this.. cause it's horrible.. but oh well. I'll post whatever the heck I want.

Also, this isn't a Phan slash fic. There will be affection and fluff but Dan and Phil are only best friends. The best kind of best friends, but only best friends.

So all you perverts can just stop reading if that's the only reason you're here. ;)

Anyway, this is my first Dan and Phil fanfic, so I hope you guys enjoy it! I really have no idea what the heck I'm doing. It's actually almost one in the morning as I'm typing this. So who knows what will happen.

In this chapter Phil, as the AmazingPhil, is on his own and has done well so far. This is when he meets Dan. He's out of Uni now and living by himself in Manchester. Like I said this is AU so it doesn't follow canon details.

But yeah. Enjoy.

THE PHAN WARS

~o~o~o~o~o~

Phil Lester had never liked planes much. They were fun and all, but they meant leaving home. And anywhere outside of home wasn't safe.

It wasn't that he hated the fans, or the attention, or the constant stream of creepy things done to his face that he occassionally came across on Tumblr. He just hated everything else. Because they were always watching.

He was staying in Nashville for the weekend. As an internet star, he had been asked to interview several celebrities backstage. His friend and only true moral support Eric had promised the hotel he'd booked would be stalker free, and he had said it as a kind of joke, but Phil still got that chill down his spine whenever he thought about stalkers.

Eric liked to say he was becoming a growing rash on the social media that just refused to go away, but Phil assumed he meant that as a joke too.

I mean, he was only Phil.

Eric was an old friend from their university days who worked mostly online as a website designer. Phil had hired him at his offer to help with the small details he didn't want to deal with in his traveling journeys. Like booking hotels, for example.

Phil loved America. I mean, he'd been before, many times, and had tried all the crazy sweets his subscribers sent in, plus bought the cool tshirts and even attempted his own American accent in a video. (Though that hadn't been as successful as he'd hoped.) But there was something different about America today. Or he could be extremely jetlagged, which was probably the case, so after finally arriving at the hotel, he stripped his clothes, pulled on his pajamas, sank into the fresh scent of the cool bedsheets, and promptly dropped off to sleep.

And he hadn't even checked Tumblr. That was extremely jetlagged.

In the morning Eric knocked on his hotel door rather loudly. Phil groaned, pulling the pillow over his head as to block out the noise. But then Eric rang his cell, and Phil had forgotten to turn the volume down, so he begruddgingly climbed out of bed as the Pokemon theme bounced off the walls and unlocked the front door.

There stood Eric, though who else would it really be, with a cheesy smirk on his face, as if he knew how much Phil wanted to strangle him right then, and handed Phil his rental suit for the interviews that night.

"Just don't spill coffee on it, yeah? I already get paid little enough.."

Phil quirked his eyebrows in that way that teenage girls seemed to love, as if to say no promises, but both Eric and he knew he never would actually spill coffee on the suit. Unless he happened to trip over something. Which was an embarassingly likely thing to happen.

Phil spent most of the day in his hotel room, playing the Animal Crossings game he'd become addicted to and listening to Muse while trying not to freak out about the interviews later that night. And he slept, since Eric had so rudely interrupted him that morning. And in the corner of his eye he watched as the American skies hung heavy in the air, as if it were almost as jetlagged as he was. Funny, that.

Eric knocked on his door again, wearing a tshirt and jeans, because really, what else would Eric wear. He looked Phil up and down, approving of the suit before jangling the car keys and handing Phil a cup of Starbucks.

And Phil didn't say anything but they both knew he was grateful.

The night proceeded as planned. Phil put on that grand smile and joked around with the celebrities like he was supposed to, while trying not to fangirl too much, though he was sure he had freaked some of them out just a little bit. It was a beautiful moment of fulfilled dreams and even Phil had forgotten about the small stain on his right sleeve from accidentally knocking some coffee out the top on the drive over. (Eric hadn't even bothered to comment.) And then as the night was coming to a close Eric thrust another evil plane ticket in his hand and told him to get everything packed because they were leaving Nashville earlier than expected.

"This plane ticket is for LA. We weren't booked for anything in LA." Phil said uncertainly, looking the ticket over.

"I know. There's a big Youtuber meet up going on this weekend. They heard you were in town and asked if you would come."

"Nashville isn't exactly in town." Phil muttered. America was beginning to become slightly depressing. He had been hoping to get home and work more on his main channel.

Eric shrugged. "Hey, you hired me to book your little outings, not refuse them."

"So I don't pay you enough, do I?"

"So now you get the picture."

Phil actually managed a genuine smile.

So they left Nashville and got on the first plane towards LA. Phil was still suffering jetlag, so he was pretty much a zombie as his nicely timed sleep schedule became even more ruffled. He knew Eric had to be feeling the affects too, but so far the man hadn't even yawned, which just irritated Phil, though Eric seemed to be getting a real kick out of it, because he knew it annoyed him.

It was almost three in the morning when both men arrived at the LA airport. Phil wanted to get out his camera and vlog, but had decided he was too tired to be entertaining, plus he looked a mess, and maybe he could get out of this whole thing and back to the nice couch in his small flat sooner than expected.

Not that he didn't want to meet the other Youtubers. It was just the American skies were just as dark and disturbing as they had been in Nashville.

"I'd be careful at this meet up, if I were you." Eric warned as he told Phil goodnight. "There's going to be some crazy fangirls."

"There are always crazy fangirls."

"Yeah but you actually want a girlfriend when you leave, yeah?"

Phil squinted his eyes and swatted at Eric with a pillow. This was always a joke between them, though it was a very annoying joke. And Phil laid his head on the pillow and dreamed of nothing more than making hot chocolate in the peace of his own flat.

~o~o~o~o~o~

The YouTuber meet up was actually a lot more fun than Phil had first anticipated.

Eric had joined him, much to Phil's relief, and the two sat with a group of young vloggers, sharing a drink and a laugh. But as the night dragged on, most of Phil's social lubrication was beginning to drop and suddenly he didn't want to be there anymore. Excusing himself from the table, he took his drink and disappeared into the chilly outside.

The cool air helped him a little bit. There were numerous stars shining against the gloomy mist, but they were fighting for it, fighting to shine. They seemed to be calling out to him, begging for help. Dying.

"When I was younger, I used to give every star I could see a name."

Phil jumped at the unexpected voice and swiveled around, only to meet chocolate brown melted in with the shadows. And the figure stepped forward, a drink in his hand as well, and he looked at the night sky with so much concentration that Phil wondered if he could see pictures or the future or something up there.

"Every star?" Phil asked quietly.

"Mostly every star." And then the boy smiled widely at him, and Phil found himself wrapped in a great bear hug. "You're the AmazingPhil, aren't you? God, I've always wanted to meet you.."

And even though Phil still wasn't used to unexpected hugs, or could say that he enjoyed them, he found he didn't mind this one too much.

"Sorry." The boy grinned sheepishly, letting go. "How rude. My name is Dan."

Phil held out his hand. "Phil. I'm assuming you are a YouTuber?"

"Yeah. Though I only started because of you."

Phil blushed lightly; of course many had told him they were inspired by him but no one had actually taken such a committment because of his videos. Or perhaps this was a disaster, because Phil had introduced this nice boy to a world where fame and flames were everywhere, and now he'd just ruined his life.

Yeah, it was probably that.

But Dan didn't seem to see it that way, nor did he really care as he chattered away with Phil outside in the dark, and Phil realized he could listen to him talk all week if that was what Dan wanted. They were into all the same bands and all the same video games, though Dan was apparently left-handed, so he was extra talented in the art of handling video game controllers.

But soon it was getting late, and Eric was probably wondering if he had finally tripped the wrong way and drowned in a pond of piranha. So Phil unfortunately brought the news that he had to leave.

"I will see you around sometime, right? I mean we both live in Manchester." Dan asked, his eyes glowing hopefully.

And Phil nodded, another genuine smile tugging at his lips. Dan gave him another bear hug before exchanging numbers and running back inside, drinks forgotten.

Maybe this wasn't so bad. But Phil couldn't wait to finally get back to his flat in Manchester.

To hell with Eric and his dreaded plane tickets.


End file.
